An Almost Kiss
by agent000
Summary: Edward had never been to a dance before, and he had certainly never kissed a girl before, so why had he agreed to take Winry to the dance? He felt like such an idiot.


_**Heh, I took so long to submit this, though I suppose most of you didn't notice. This is my second fic in the 100 Themes Challenge, so I know that a few of you were expecting it at least. I wrote it a few weeks back, and just didn't get around to editing it once my beta sent it back. Well, now I have, so you can enjoy it. Again, thanks to my beta Weirdly. She really makes my stories a lot better, so I'm quite appreciative.**_

_**Disclaimer: I sometimes pretend that I own Fullmetal Alchemist, but he doesn't believe me.**_

Edward readjusted his tie and glanced nervously at the floor, feeling like he would to choke to death if that tie got any smaller around his neck. He turned to his right and offered a nervous smile to the girl who was standing there. Winry should not have dressed that way. That sparkly red gown that exposed her back made her look almost (he hated to admit it) sexy. He wasn't supposed to think of Winry that way, not when the girl was practically a sister to him.

"Come on, Ed," she pleaded, "You promised to take me to the dance. Aren't we going to dance at least once?"

Ed choked and continued to pull at his tie – he swore it was getting smaller. "Y-Yeah, of course we'll dance."

"But we've already sat out on several," said Winry, continuing to prod, and then her eyes opened wide. "Edward Elric, you don't mean to tell me you can't dance?"

Edward's eyes snapped over to the girl defiantly. "I can too dance! I just..." His voice trailed off. The truth was that he really didn't have a good excuse for how he felt at the moment; he was just scared. Could they be just friends after this, or would it evolve into something more? Maybe he was taking this one dance too seriously.

Winry grabbed Ed's hand and gently began tugging it in the direction of the dance floor. That wasn't at all proper procedure for a woman, but Winry didn't pay much attention to stereotypes as it was. That was part of what attracted Ed to her. No, not attracted, he was...intrigued. Intrigued as a friend would be.

"Let's dance, Ed," said Winry, dragging the reluctant boy out onto the floor. "This is a nice slow dance. It shouldn't be too hard, right?"

Ed swallowed. Difficulty was a matter of perception. A slow dance could be worse than a lively one, and it had nothing to do with skill. He could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks as he reached his hand forward and wrapped it around Winry's waist. His heart rate sped up, and he clenched his jaw shut so he wouldn't reveal what was going through his mind. Why did she have to wear the one dress in the world with no back? Didn't she realize how seductive her bare skin could be?

The two clasped hands and Winry put her other hand on his shoulder, and then their feet began to move to the music. Thank goodness it was only a simple waltz. All he had to do was to count to three over and over again until the song was concluded. The numbers ought to keep his mind from going where it didn't belong.

"Ed?" Winry's voice broke through his thoughts, "What's on your mind?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you thinking about?" she repeated.

"Oh -- um," he stammered as he searched for an answer. "Nothing, really."

"But you have this vacant look on your face," she pressed. "What's on your mind?"

Edward began to feel the heat rising to his face again, though he couldn't figure out why. She was only asking him what he was thinking about, so why should that cause him to blush? All the same, when he tried to speak, he found that his tongue had turned to rubber and wouldn't cooperate with him. "I-I uh...I was...just counting my steps...make sure I did it right...and..."

Two slender feminine fingers came to rest on his lips, forbidding him to speak anymore, or perhaps assuring him that he didn't have to. He wasn't sure. It was difficult to tell with girls. "Ed," she said, "You're so sweet, even when you're not trying to be."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. How had he just been sweet? He had just admitted that all he'd been thinking about were numbers rather than her, and she thought that was sweet? Girls really didn't make any sense at all.

Apparently seeing his confusion, Winry tilted her head and leaned in just a little closer to the boy. "You're trying to ensure that the dance goes as smooth as possible. That's so considerate of you." She smiled and leaned in a little bit closer still. Edward swallowed nervously. She wasn't planning on kissing him, was she? Surely she knew that he had never kissed a girl in his life. She was really making this hard for him, though she obviously didn't realize it.

Winry's face stopped just in front of his own. She hadn't touched his lips, but it was obvious that she wanted to. Anyone could tell that from this distance. What was she waiting for? Him? Was it normal for girls to be so forward like this? At least she was giving him the choice to make the choice to kiss her, but he wasn't so sure she'd allow him to back out and not do it. She would come after him with a wrench later for sure if he didn't, though that would be nothing compared to the hurt she'd hold for who knew how long.

"Well?" said the girl after a moment of silence, "Don't you want to kiss me, Ed?" There, she'd finally said it. That confirmed that his suspicions. Why did she have to do this right now, before he was ready? She knew he'd never kissed a girl before, didn't she?

"Winry, I - I don't know..."

Winry sighed and offered a slightly reassuring smile as she backed away. "It's okay," she said, though her tone conveyed her disappointment, "I shouldn't have pushed it on you like that." Edward didn't really know what to say, so he looked down at the floor as the two continued the dance in silence.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. Edward could recall neither him nor Winry talking to each other at all until they stepped outside, and even that was just small talk. He was having difficulty locating the car he'd borrowed for the occasion, and he wanted to make sure that Winry wasn't nervous, though his quiet manner over the evening had probably made her so anyway.

Fortunately, they found the car about a block away from the entrance. Whoever thought that cars should be black was a very stupid person, because it made them almost impossible to locate at night. With a sigh, he opened the passenger side door and escorted Winry into her seat, and then went around and took his place behind the steering wheel. He started up the engine, and cautiously pulled out, not saying a word the whole time.

The individual seconds felt like minutes, and the minutes felt like hours. Had he just ruined Winry's evening? The girl had never been to a dance before. Granted, neither had he, but he had wanted to make it something special for her to look back on. Couldn't he have suffered through one kiss, even if it hadn't felt right? A frown began to form on his face, and his eyebrows pressed together as though in deep concentration. Was there a way to fix this for her? Probably not, since the deed was already done and the dance was over. Why did he always have to mess up everything he touched?

Ed felt a gentle touch to his hand, and he turned to look into Winry's face, who was casting a worried glance his way. He swallowed his nervousness, but couldn't find words to say.

"I'm sorry," said Winry, suddenly looking down, away from his face. Ed's eyebrows relaxed from the frown position and began to move towards an expression of confusion. "That was really selfish of me," the girl continued, "I know that you've never kissed a girl before, and I scared you. I just got caught up in the moment, I guess. I don't really know what got into me."

Edward's muscles began to loosen, but he wasn't yet sure if he was off the hook. He still felt guilty for something, like he had ruined her experience somehow. He wanted to speak, but words still refused to come, so he just settled for listening to the girl at present.

Winry finally looked up into his face again, and tried to smile. "We're still going to be friends, right? Are you mad at me?"

Finally, the bonds on Ed's tongue came loose, and he reached out a hand sideways to pat her on the shoulder. "Of course I'm not mad at you! I thought you were mad at _me_."

Winry chuckled slightly and shook her head. "I couldn't be angry with you for my own stupidity, Ed. I was mad at myself for letting my emotions carry me away."

Edward finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to keeping his eye on the road to ensure that he didn't wreck the car. He didn't say anything for a brief moment as he registered everything that Winry had said. He still felt he owed her something. "We all let our emotions get control of us at times. It's part of what is being human." At this, Winry smiled slightly, and the two remained silent for the rest of the drive.

Before long, Ed and Winry were standing on Winry's doorstep. The two stood staring at each other in silence for a few moments, Ed struggling to figure out how to say goodbye properly. Finally, Winry broke the silence. "So...I really enjoyed the evening."

Astounded, Edward's eyes opened wide. "You-You did?"

Winry chuckled slightly and looked into his eyes. "You thought I didn't just because of that?"

"Well, I don't know, I just thought..." He reached up and scratched the back of his head.

Winry chuckled again and then grabbed Ed's shoulder to get his attention. "Here, does this help you any?" She took her hand off of Ed's shoulder, brought it up to her lips, and then placed her freshly kissed fingertips on Ed's cheek. "There you go, now you've had an almost kiss." The girl smiled mischievously.

Edward could feel the color rushing to his face again as a few nervous chuckles escaped from him, despite his efforts. Winry flashed him a bright smile, and then turned to opening her door. Her head snapped around to look at him one more time, and said, "We'll do this again sometime, won't we?"

Ed's hand was rubbing the spot where Winry's fingers had touched, almost as though it had burned his skin. His mouth refused to cooperate once again, though he managed to say, "Yeah...sure." Apparently satisfied, Winry spun her head back around and went into the house, shutting the door behind her while she shouted goodbye.

Edward staggered as he made his way off the porch and back to the car, hand still tightly holding to the burn spot on his face. It was a good thing that he hadn't gotten a real kiss if he was going to react this strongly. An almost kiss was enough to deal with for one night.

_**Again, as I said with "Unopened Letter", if you want to get notified for all of these 100 Themes stories I write, you'll have to put me on author alert. Putting this story on story alert won't do you any good, since it is complete and I'm not updating it. If you want to see more, author alert is the way to go, since then you'll be notified about everything I write. It's up to you, but I figured it'd be good to mention. Some people don't know what all the features on this site are for, so someone has to tell them. ;) See you in the next one, I hope!**_


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